Right in the heart of Silver Lake, down the street from the reservoir is Rubbish Interiors, a showroom that offers plenty for anyone. Owner Scott Mangan and designer Nick Bianco bring a flourishing eye and richness to any project they are involved in. Offering decor and design strategy to both residential and commercial projects, Rubbish Interiors has been a playground for dynamic elegance since 1994.

I recently sat down with the gentleman of Rubbish Interiors and had a conversation about their design motto and the history of their showroom. "Our Silver Lake store is not only a place filled with unusual items from which we pull for our own design work, but it is a go-to resource for some of the top interior designers across the country."

Enjoy!

What would you say is your design inspiration/ motto?We draw inspiration from many sources, including art and fashion, nature and technology. Scott Mangan's background in art, both as an artist and and having worked for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, infuses our projects with a strong sense of line, proportion and color. Nick Bianco has an extensive knowledge of furniture design and interior design history and we pull from different periods and styles when creating a design. Every time we shop or open a magazine, travel around the globe or simply go on a walk in our neighborhood we find new inspiration. Our design office and store is located in Silver Lake, which for decades has had an incredible creative energy. It is hard not to be inspired by our surroundings.

How would you describe your style? Our style is an eclectic mix of modern and traditional from different eras, though some projects tend to be on the more strictly modern or strictly traditional side, depending on the client. For a recent job in San Marino we did a dining room in a mix of Italian Baroque, English Regency and Mid-century Chinoiserie. For a Downtown loft we did a mix of 1970's and 1980's modern, with contemporary art stacked to the ceiling. Our design for the Lamill Boutique Restaurant in Silver Lake was a mix of styles in a very modern building. Against a background of hand-painted Neo-classical wallpaper and a large centerpiece Georgian brass chandelier we created custom seating based on a Mid-century country club vibe in unusually colored faux animal skins - teal crocodile, powder blue ostrich and pale jade shagreen.

When designing and doing custom decorating for clients, what rules do you adhere to? There are not many hard and fast rules that we adhere to since every job is different and every client has different needs. However, the most important thing for us is to know how the client uses their home or workspace that we are designing, so that we can determine what currently works for them and what needs to be addressed in making their environments more useful as well as beautiful.